Dutch authority fines LG €8 million for price fixing with TV sets

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) fined LG nearly 8 million euros for illegal price fixing. According to the regulator, from 2015 through 2018, LG made agreements on the online prices of television sets with seven large retailers.

“Under the pretense of ‘price recommendations,’ LG coordinated price increases of retailers to the recommended price that LG provided. LG’s practices disrupted competition between the retailers, and that resulted in higher prices for consumers,” ACM chairman Martijn Snoep said.

Retailers must set their own prices. Suppliers can only give them non-binding price recommendations. Despite being well aware of this, LG went beyond giving just a recommendation, ACM said. According to the regulator, LG asked retailers to charge the recommended prices, indicating that it “took action to bring the retail prices of other retailers in line with the recommended prices.”

“LG consistently confronted retailers if they charged retail prices lower than the recommended prices,” the ACM said. The company also instructed retailers not to advertise specials on comparison sites and asked them not to lower their prices in response to other retailers. When LG found out that a retailer used lower prices, it contacted them, demanded an ‘explanation,’ and urged them to increase their prices.

“ACM has thousands of messages and documents that show these illegal price-fixing agreements. As LG constantly informed retailers, they knew they would not price themselves out of the market if they followed LG’s price. In that way, LG unduly interfered directly in the competition between retailers,” the ACM said. “As a result, the television sets were not sold at the most competitive price, which is at the expense of consumers.”